Minerva, I'm wondering whether we can ask for feedback from our respective college now or will it be provided automatically after January? I'm interested to know what got me an offer (strong interview or BMAT?) for medicine so I can sort of help the juniors in my college who is planning to apply to Cambridge this year. Thanks.

(Original post by kamijyo touma)
Minerva, I'm wondering whether we can ask for feedback from our respective college now or will it be provided automatically after January? I'm interested to know what got me an offer (strong interview or BMAT?) for medicine so I can sort of help the juniors in my college who is planning to apply to Cambridge this year. Thanks.

I don't think they offer feedback to successful candidates, but you can always try. I would leave it until next month though.

Funnily enough, I've still not been told it straight, just that my original college can now tell me the outcome. Kind of sad how this process has fully put my off reapplying after coming so close, what with reinterview.

Funnily enough, I've still not been told it straight, just that my original college can now tell me the outcome. Kind of sad how this process has fully put my off reapplying after coming so close, what with reinterview.

Feel preeeeetty rubbish

I am so so sorry to hear that. Been following all of your journeys on this thread. I can understand how you must be feeling today - so exhausted at this antiquated and lengthy and sometimes downright rude system. The thing is though, you've been pooled by the number one (!) uni in the world, you are a world class and calibre student. You will thrive wherever you go, be possibly more relaxed and have lots of fun come what may. If you think they deserve you, you can go to Cambridge for masters!

Give yourself so e days of misery, then shake yourself off, look at modules for courses you have offers for, possibly go visit the cities and get excited abouts them. I'm sure it is Cambridgeshire loss, it must be a hellish job too being an admisssions tutor wi little to choose between people.

I hope you get lots of support, and can bounce back when you ready, good luck mate.

Funnily enough, I've still not been told it straight, just that my original college can now tell me the outcome. Kind of sad how this process has fully put my off reapplying after coming so close, what with reinterview.

Feel preeeeetty rubbish

Well, that's Caius running true to form then The arrogance is breathtaking.

Move on, move upwards. Why not consider coming over to the dark (blue) side? They do things better there

Thank you Minerva regarding your advice about contacting Caius. My daughter has now emailed them asking for her decision letter to be emailed to her as soon as it is ready.

I have come to several conclusions regarding Cambridge and its selection process but my main one is that they should be doing their pooling “behind closed doors”, with all students only receiving a final decision letter at the end of January. Candidates could be informed that there is a possibility that they will be recalled for interview by another college during January.

It may be a bit late in the day now but I was wondering if it would be a good idea to get an online petition going (eg at the following http://www.change.org/petition) to ask Cambridge to change their selection process in this way. What do you think about this Minerva?

(Original post by mummymo)
Thank you Minerva regarding your advice about contacting Caius. My daughter has now emailed them asking for her decision letter to be emailed to her as soon as it is ready.

I have come to several conclusions regarding Cambridge and its selection process but my main one is that they should be doing their pooling “behind closed doors”, with all students only receiving a final decision letter at the end of January. Candidates could be informed that there is a possibility that they will be recalled for interview by another college during January.

It may be a bit late in the day now but I was wondering if it would be a good idea to get an online petition going (eg at the following http://www.change.org/petition) to ask Cambridge to change their selection process in this way. What do you think about this Minerva?

Change will be always accepted ... if one can propose a better and a fair one. Do we have a better process?

(Original post by Noonoo)
I am so so sorry to hear that. Been following all of your journeys on this thread. I can understand how you must be feeling today - so exhausted at this antiquated and lengthy and sometimes downright rude system. The thing is though, you've been pooled by the number one (!) uni in the world, you are a world class and calibre student. You will thrive wherever you go, be possibly more relaxed and have lots of fun come what may. If you think they deserve you, you can go to Cambridge for masters!

Give yourself so e days of misery, then shake yourself off, look at modules for courses you have offers for, possibly go visit the cities and get excited abouts them. I'm sure it is Cambridgeshire loss, it must be a hellish job too being an admisssions tutor wi little to choose between people.

I hope you get lots of support, and can bounce back when you ready, good luck mate.

Ahhh thanks so so much! Really comforting to know people who aren't obliged to care, in fact do a great amount purely out of kindness. I just feel let down by the whole process, and in fact now have bitter memories of what's meant to be a great experience.

I'm mostly bothered about having to tell loads of people that I didn't make it, after all this time and being asked multiple times each day if I'd heard anything.... But you're right I am proud with how far I got, I realise it's an achievement, just quite hard to appreciate it now I guess!

Well, UCL or Imperial I think it is, which will be fantastic because I do love London!

(Original post by Minerva)
Well, that's Caius running true to form then The arrogance is breathtaking.

Move on, move upwards. Why not consider coming over to the dark (blue) side? They do things better there

It really is, unfortunately, breathtaking. Argggh I could have a good old rant about this, but doing some work would be more productive.

Are you suggesting the likes of Oxford? If so I did apply to St Johns, which is apparently the next worst thing...!

Also... I have no idea who you are, what position you're in, how old you are and all the rest... But what I do know is what you've done on this forum is beyond commendable, it's amazing. I for one am so grateful for the time and effort you've invested in this thread, I can't thank you enough! I can only hope that SOMEWHERE at SOME COLLEGE there are admissions tutors with the same respect an patience as you, I doubt it, but we can hope.

Commiserations for those who were unsuccessful. I just wanted to also remind you that even though it feels rough now, you are lucky to have gone this far and should consider yourselves to be of very, very high quality and brilliance. At this point, very little decides who gets an offer and who doesn't, it's all about limited places, sadly. Either way, you are Cambridge material, and that should be more than good enough for any other university you set your eyes on. Good luck with your future endeavours, I salute you!

Minerva, I still haven't received the official letter after receiving my offer via track (and later confirmed via email from St Edmund's), should I email to enquire about it?

Also, I was wondering about your statistics. Is mine a direct offer if I didn't get re-interviewed, even if it's a conditional offer with the standard international applicant's "provide a satisfactory financial guarantee" requirement?

(Original post by Dumb Economist)
Change will be always accepted ... if one can propose a better and a fair one. Do we have a better process?

Even just setting some ground rules around when people will be contacted and with what information would be a start.

If they must do it in this way (and I don't think they must, but let us suppose there really is no alternative), the CAO could set a timetable and insist that all colleges stick to it. thus:

all interview invitations following the Pool to be sent out by email at 5pm on the Saturday (final lists having gone to colleges by 3pm)

all direct offers agreed during the Pool also to be sent out by email at a specified time - say 10am on the Monday after the Pool closes

all confirmed rejections to be sent out by colleges by email as soon as possible, and no later than 24 hours after the files have been returned to the preference college on the date specified in the Pool timetable

all applicants on whom a decision is still pending, who are not being re-interviewed, should receive an email update from the college that is considering them at least every 72 hours

applicants in special groups (eg the medics and the vet medics) should receive regular email updates on the timescales for decisions

all applicants who have been re-interviewed should receive an email from the fishing college within 72 hours, either confirming the outcome or specifying when a decision will be made

I'd be inclined to ban phonecalls - more time-consuming than emails anyway, and then people fret about whether they heard aright!

How about that for starters? At least then people would know where they were.

(Original post by •Ball•So•Hard•)
It really is, unfortunately, breathtaking. Argggh I could have a good old rant about this, but doing some work would be more productive.

Are you suggesting the likes of Oxford? If so I did apply to St Johns, which is apparently the next worst thing...!

As far as telling others is concerned, it'll pass over soon enough - this is 'nine-day wonder' territory.

And yes, I am suggesting the likes of Oxford

Also... I have no idea who you are, what position you're in, how old you are and all the rest... But what I do know is what you've done on this forum is beyond commendable, it's amazing. I for one am so grateful for the time and effort you've invested in this thread, I can't thank you enough! I can only hope that SOMEWHERE at SOME COLLEGE there are admissions tutors with the same respect an patience as you, I doubt it, but we can hope.

I'll refer you to my strap-line "lifelong learner and multi-tasker" - though hastening to add that I have no role with admissions anywhere

(Original post by DanishPastry)
Minerva, I still haven't received the official letter after receiving my offer via track (and later confirmed via email from St Edmund's), should I email to enquire about it?

Also, I was wondering about your statistics. Is mine a direct offer if I didn't get re-interviewed, even if it's a conditional offer with the standard international applicant's "provide a satisfactory financial guarantee" requirement?

If it's on Track, don't worry - a letter will turn up eventually.

And yes, your offer is counted as 'direct' because you weren't re-interviewed. Direct offers can be unconditional or conditional

After all the frustration and waiting, I finally got my letter today - offer from Magdalene for Law after re-interview.

While I'm incredibly thrilled, I must say this whole process has been exhausting! This morning I called Magdalene and they said that they were still in the process of sending out letters and making decisions, and I would probably hear back by the end of the week. Was pretty bummed by that, so called Downing (the college that pooled me) to check if my file had been returned, but the admissions secretary wasn't in yet, so another person took down my name and number. An hour later, the Downing secretary called me and said she had called Magdalene for me, and Magdalene had given her permission to tell me that I got an offer! Finally, I returned back home to discover that my offer letter from Magdalene had just arrived, dated 18 Jan. I had actually requested for an email of any decision letters, so I guess they forgot about that...

Either way, the waiting has finally come to an end. Thank you so much to everyone on this thread who has made the waiting slightly more bearable, and for those who are still swimming, don't lose hope yet!

(Original post by mummymo)
Thank you Minerva regarding your advice about contacting Caius. My daughter has now emailed them asking for her decision letter to be emailed to her as soon as it is ready.

I have come to several conclusions regarding Cambridge and its selection process but my main one is that they should be doing their pooling “behind closed doors”, with all students only receiving a final decision letter at the end of January. Candidates could be informed that there is a possibility that they will be recalled for interview by another college during January.

It may be a bit late in the day now but I was wondering if it would be a good idea to get an online petition going (eg at the following http://www.change.org/petition) to ask Cambridge to change their selection process in this way. What do you think about this Minerva?

Unfortunately Cambridge is not the only University in UCAS. All over the country universities are waiting to see who makes offers into firms and insurance having heard from Cambridge. If you delay Cambridge offers for a month then you delay this system everywhere else. (They don't get to see who is made an offer but a majority of people on hearing from Oxbridge are in a position to confirm or reject the rest.) This is one reason why so many UCAS offers are made in February & March.

The pool experience is horrible, especially for high flyers who are used to being highly sought after. But as others have said after the immediate pain has settled the experience will create a strength of character and ability to deal with uncertainty and anxiety that will stand them in good stead for the future. Many of my friends were pooled but three years on it seems less ghastly than it did at the time and those who ended up elsewhere soon find they mix with huge numbers of other oxbridge hopefuls who didn't even get to be pooled.

Funnily enough, I've still not been told it straight, just that my original college can now tell me the outcome. Kind of sad how this process has fully put my off reapplying after coming so close, what with reinterview.

Feel preeeeetty rubbish

Cambridge have made some decisions this year that have really surprised me.

Is Imperial going to be your firm now? I'll probably be joining you when I fail STEP in the summer.

Funnily enough, I've still not been told it straight, just that my original college can now tell me the outcome. Kind of sad how this process has fully put my off reapplying after coming so close, what with reinterview.

Feel preeeeetty rubbish

I'm so sorry to hear that, I was so sure you'd get good news
My backup is UCL, so there's still a 50% chance that I'll be joining you in London!
The only thing I can say is to continue with STEP (if it's something you enjoy ofc) - I think to keep yourself going and prove that you are capable is so important. I think without STEP preparation I'd personally get stuck in a bit of a rut motivation wise - with only maths, f maths & physics I've found this year so far rather too relaxing, and that'd make it pretty easy to reflect back on what could've been instead of looking ahead.
And the more you do the better the chance you have of getting the best of both worlds - there's the always masters/phd to go for at Cam/Ox